Caribbean Culture

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Creolisation Creolisation

Creolisation is a top element of the Caribbean culture . It is a word derived from the word Creole it however is not meant to just describe the Creole culture . It is a broad anthropological term used to describe the coming together of different cultural traits especially of the West Indies to form a new trait . This occurs when two or more languages are combined to give one unique language

In essence , Creolisation refers to the blending of diverse cultures to give one unique culture . The adaptability

of Creolisation by the Caribbean culture in this age of globalization is a good thing for the Caribbean economy but may be injurious to the culture of the Caribbean peoples . Because the people of the caribbeans will be speaking a common creolized language it will be relatively easy for the member states of the Caribbean region to communicate with each other . Creolisation of their cultures will enhance further understanding among the creolized states of the Caribbean ( Ancelet et al , 2001

Nearly all the states of the Caribbean have creolized ' cultures . From the Jamaicans , the Cajuns , the Bahamas , British Guyana etc . Their various cultures have been creolized . They all speak the language of their colonial masters in the pidgin form and have adopted certain cultures form their colonial masters . Like the drinking of processed liquor , smoking of cigarettes etc

These imperialist cultures have made several African countries economies to suffer . Country like Nigeria which used to eat the type of the imperial master 's food , his wine and wear his clothes spent fortunes of its country earnings to fund the importation of these items . This led to a plunge in the fortunes of this country . The Caribbean however are people that are very proud of their heritage . They designed their own music form (e .g . reggae ) have their own drinks- which are largely influenced by the culture of their forefathers . Their food has however been creolized as it is influenced by imperialist cultures . Though it is still very much part of their own creation

In creolising , care must be taken not to change an existing culture completely . This fear is as captured by Appiah as thus "Nevertheless contemporary multiculturalists are right in thinking that a decent education will teach children about the various social identities around them . First , because each child has to negotiate the creation of his or her own individual identity , using these collective identities as one (but only one ) of the resources second , so that all can be prepared to deal with one another respectfully in a common civic life . Much of current multicultural education seems to me to have these reasonable aims : let us call this weak version "liberal multiculturalism (1997

From Appiah 's documentation , creolisation has been viewed from these perspectives

a . creolisation as the major social and cultural fact about Caribbean life (what matters will of course be the social process but it may prove illuminating to proceed via linguistics ) and